Finance Secretary Ralph Recto on Tuesday brushed aside fears of fiscal mismanagement over the deployment of agency funds into areas these supposedly were not originally intended for, saying the needs of some 115 million Filipinos take precedence over the ruckus that the deployment has generated.
According to Secretary Recto, he would rather that the funds, in this case subsidy funds the national government contributes to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., or Philhealth, be mobilized into such areas as education, infrastructure and yes, public health, rather than keeping them idle.
“With the government working to provide for the urgent needs of 115 million Filipinos, it is imperative that it mobilizes unused and idle funds so that these can be tapped to finance priority government health, education, and infrastructure programs,” he said in a statement published at its website.
He first stressed this point in a broadcast interview also on Tuesday where he explained the rationale behind tapping the excess and unused funds of PhilHealth and other government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).
Secretary Recto insisted the deployment of unused funds merely forms part of fiscal management akin to deploying idle policemen into areas rife with crime.
He also said the deployment was made imperative but how the USD437 billion southeast Asian economy collects far less revenue than it is spending for such services as security, education, health and other essentials of governance.
According to Secretary Recto, the fiscal sector collects only P11.8 billion but spends P15.8 billion or a daily shortfall of P4 billion. This compels the government to borrow this much money every day in the form of government bonds or Treasury bills.
In any case, Secretary Recto said the controversial funds do not actually form part of Philhealth’s premium contribution from its members but rather the funds the government contributes to the public health insurance company as subsidy.
The former senator earlier said the redeployed Philhealth funds total P89.9 billion.
He also said the amount is puny in relation to so much more Philhealth resources at the agency’s disposal totaling P550 billion in this case.
“(This) is more than enough to increase the benefits of its direct and indirect contributors, covering two to three years of expenses,” he said.
